Auto racing notebook: Postponements aplenty move 3 races to today

Bad weather at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway reared its head again yesterday as rain forced the postponement of NASCAR's Sprint Cup race until today at noon.

Bad weather at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway reared its head again yesterday as rain forced the postponement of NASCAR's Sprint Cup race until today at noon.

It is the second year in a row that rain pushed an event into Monday at the track in southwestern Virginia. Last spring, the truck series event had to be run on Monday.

Rain also has washed out Sprint Cup qualifying for the past three spring races, putting points leader Kevin Harvick on the pole for the race. Harvick will be seeking a weekend sweep after dominating the truck race that was run on Saturday.

Many drivers traded their ball caps for knit caps and wore heavy coats for driver introductions yesterday, which were conducted under heavy cloud cover and in a steady rain.

"It stinks for the fans and all the teams, but the fortunate thing is we've got an off week coming up, so it's not like this is going to put everybody way behind," said A.J. Allmendinger, who will start 21st.

NASCAR's premier series is taking its traditional break of the season for Easter next weekend.

IRL race postponed

Typically, it takes more than strong bands of rain to keep Indy Racing League cars from getting on the track.

But yesterday was not typical, not by any measure.

With 6 inches of water pooling on some sections of the low-lying track, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.) was postponed until today after a band of thunderstorms pounded the course for much of the afternoon. It was the first time an Indy Racing League event was pushed back by weather since April 2008.

"We're one of the few series in the world that go racing in the rain," driver Ryan Hunter-Reay said. "And even this was a bit much."

Rain began falling at the 1.8-mile street circuit just before 1 p.m., and a band of strong storms arrived quickly from there. Parts of the infield flooded, the line between grass and asphalt was impossible to find in some other areas.

"Some of the areas in the grass and the areas in the infield around (turns) 13 and 14 are literally ponds right now," said Brian Barnhart, the president of IRL's competition and racing operations division.

Today's race is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. But weather could play a role then, too - forecasters are saying there's a chance of storms again in the St. Petersburg area. Crews were to work overnight to try to clear the course of standing water.

NHRA event postponed

The finals of the NHRA's Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, N.C., were postponed because of rain until today at 11 a.m.

Button wins Australian Grand Prix

McLaren's Jenson Button survived a first-corner collision and successfully gambled on a bold tire strategy to win the Formula One Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Button was the first driver prepared to change from intermediate tires to slicks on a drying track, and drove the final 52 laps on a wearing set of soft tires to claim back-to-back race wins in Melbourne.

Renault's Robert Kubica was 12 seconds behind in second place, finishing ahead of Ferrari pair Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.